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Nothing has stirred liberal outrage more in recent weeks than the temporary closing of USAID. Protesters shedding crocodile tears surrounded the headquarters Monday to condemn President Trump for locking the agency’s doors, sending employees home and cutting off the monetary spigot.

The president’s 90-day pause on foreign aid spending has struck a nerve.

Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, performed for the assembled television cameras, describing the lifesaving initiatives around the world threatened unless the checks go out the door.

Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, knows better. “While marketed as support for development, democracy, and human rights, the majority of these funds are funneled into opposition groups, NGOs with political agendas, and destabilizing movements,” he wrote on X.

In 2021, he said, the Biden administration used the agency to prop up a communist protest movement in San Salvador to oppose his government. He released WhatsApp messages from administration officials as evidence of the meddling in his country’s democratic process.

Noting that only a fraction of USAID cash goes to legitimate causes, Mr. Bukele found “the rest is used to fuel dissent, finance protests, and undermine administrations that refuse to align with the globalist agenda.”

Speaking after a meeting with Mr. Bukele in San Salvador this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed similar frustration with USAID. He said the commander in chief’s “America First” foreign policy objectives were being undermined by rogue agents within the bureaucracy.

This isn’t new. The agency’s arrogance has irked Mr. Rubio since his time in Congress. Rep. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Republican, felt the same way when he found out U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to host the World Economic Forum.

Last Congress, Mr. Perry introduced legislation to prevent USAID from underwriting the gathering of the global elite who spend a week in five-star Swiss ski resorts while lecturing the rest of us about the need for austerity to “save the planet.”

The White House compiled its list of foreign aid absurdities, such as $47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, $32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru, $2 million for “LGBT activism” in Guatemala and $70,000 for a “DEI musical” in Ireland.

USAID even funneled money from the public treasury into EcoHealth Alliance, the group involved in the gain-of function research at the Wuhan, China, lab many believe caused the COVID-19 outbreak. The agency doled out hundreds of millions of dollars to the activist groups that brought illegal aliens from all over the world to our shores. We’re even funding “journalists” at the BBC for some reason.

This is coming to light thanks to the audit by the 20-something whiz kids whom Elon Musk hired to penetrate the tangled web of front groups and shell corporations USAID employs to disguise its true mission.

USAID grantees tend to turn around and disburse money to additional activist groups with more freedom to distribute the loot to various Democratic political action committees. These supposed nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations have a high likelihood of being staffed by liberals.

It’s basically a jobs program for the left. Certain lawmakers are upset that the gravy train may not be around much longer. For now, Mr. Trump appears satisfied with the idea that USAID should have its mission pared back so that the only programs it supports are legitimate humanitarian aid efforts — not thinly disguised, CIA-led regime change missions.

After Mr. Musk’s team zeros out the waste, there may not be much of an agency left. The administration may use its cost-benefit analysis to identify valuable programs that can be folded into the State Department if USAID closes its doors for good.

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